


I just want you to come figure me out

by kitlee625



Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2018-05-10 03:54:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5570044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitlee625/pseuds/kitlee625
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sophie is good at what she does because people only see her the way they want her to be. No one ever bothers looking closer to see the woman beneath all the aliases and lies. Then she meets Nate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I just want you to come figure me out

**Author's Note:**

> This is a somewhat expanded version of a fic written for the Leverageland Winterfest Challenge over on livejournal. Inspired by a snippet written by Mizzy2k "And although maybe she shouldn't, because Sophie's occasionally wavering self-esteem says she couldn't possibly actually deserve someone as good as him, not with her checkered history, she believes him."
> 
> The title comes from the song "Another Mystery" by Dar Williams.

Sophie is eighteen when she leaves home. She tries to stay, tries for years to be the good, obedient daughter that her parents want her to be. But she just can’t. She wants more than a quiet, small life in a quiet, small town. To be more than just a daughter and a sister and (eventually) a wife and mother. She wants to be a famous actress or artist or something. Anything so long as people see her and remember her. And if she can see the world and become rich along the way, so much the better. But she’s not going to get any of that staying at home. So as soon as she’s old enough, she leaves.

Her first stop is Paris. Paris is more beautiful and exciting than she could have ever dreamed. She finds a place to live and works odd jobs to make ends meet, and in between she explores the city, going to museums and soaking up every bit of beauty in front of her.

It is on one such trip to the Musee d’Orsay that she meets a young aspiring artist named Jean Mettier. She sees him staring at her as she wanders through the exhibit halls, and she feels a rush of pleasure. In a museum full of beautiful art, his attention is focused solely on her. He hovers on the edge of her vision all day, and then right before the museum closes, he gathers up all his courage and asks her to have a drink with him.

A drink becomes dinner becomes an entire evening together, and before she knows it, she is completely swept up in his life. She moves into his studio apartment, and he introduces her to art, music, poetry, and love. He calls her his mystery girl and tells her that she inspires him in a way that nothing else ever has. For the first time in her life she feels completely adored. 

Six months into their relationship, she finds an engagement ring hidden in his jacket pocket, and she realizes that just like her parents, Mettier only sees what he wants to see. She may be his inspiration, but beyond that he has no idea who she is or what she wants. So she runs.

Sophie travels all over the world, just like she always dreamed, but wherever she goes, people only ever see in her what they want to see. Eventually she learns how to use this to her advantage. She disappears, disguised in the hopes and fears of the mark, to gain their trust, and then uses that to get what she wants. She is able to collect art, jewels, and more money than she could spend in a lifetime that way, all without anyone the wiser.

Then she meets Nate.

The first time she meets him, she is swiping a Degas from the home of a wealthy collector. It is her fourth theft in as many weeks, and her run has garnered quite a bit of attention from the Prague art community. She should have left town weeks ago, but she tells herself that there is time for one last job. After all, no one suspects that the lovely Duchess of Hanover would ever be involved in such a thing.

She is wondering whether they will ever figure out that it was her when she turns a corner and there he is.

He shouts for her to stop, but the words have barely gotten out of his mouth before she sprints down the hallway, with him hot on her tail. She runs halfway across the city before managing to lose him, and she spends another hour making her way back to her hotel by way of side streets and dark alleyways just to be safe. However, when she gets back to her hotel, he is already there interrogating the hotel staff about her. 

After such an impressive chase, she learns everything she can about this new player. She finds out that his name is Nathan Ford, and that he is an insurance investigator for IYS. Married, with a young son, and completely devoted to both his work and his family.

She files all this away so that two years later, when he catches up to her in Damascus, she is ready for him.

Just like in Prague, he catches her unaware as she is absconding with the goods. This time though, he manages to slap a pair of handcuffs around her wrists before she can get away.

“Mr. Ford,” she says, calmly ignoring both the handcuffs and the triumphant smile on his face, “Sophie Devereaux. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“Somehow I doubt that, Ms. Devereaux,” he says dryly.

“After all this running and chasing, it’s only fitting that we finally meet one another, face to face.”

His brow furrows. “All this chasing … you mean my last assignment in Milan? That was you?” She smiles enigmatically, and Nate shakes his head. “The authorities can sort this out.”

“Now Mr. Ford, is that really necessary? Surely we can come to an understanding about all this. Without involving the authorities.”

Other men in his position might take the deal (and then find once she is free, it is suddenly worth a lot less than they thought), but Nate shakes his head vigorously. “I’m not that kind of insurance investigator, Ms. Devereaux.”

“Too bad,” she says, but deep down she is pleased that he truly is as incorruptible as his reputation. It makes the game more fun that way.

The next time she sees him, it is her turn to surprise him when they run into each other at a party in Venice.

“Mind telling me how you pulled that little disappearing act in Damascus?” he asks.

She smiles. “It’s good to see you too, Mr. Ford.”

He frowns. “What are you doing here, Ms. Devereaux?”

“Enjoying the party.”

He scowls. She can tell that he wants to come up with some reason to detain her, but for the moment at least, he has nothing on her. She loves how much that annoys him.

They don’t speak for the rest of the evening, but she can feel his gaze on her as she mingles with the crowd. His suspicions are right of course. She is here for a grift, but with him watching her all night, she puts her plans on hold for another day. He has proven himself a worthy adversary already, and it is worth taking a night off to stay of his radar. 

They dance around each other for years like that, taking turns outsmarting the other and being outsmarted in their never ending game of cat and mouse. They spend so much time running and chasing each other that eventually a strange friendship of sorts develops between them. Unlike everyone else that she has known — her parents, her lovers, her marks — he is able to see past her defenses, to see her as she truly is. Yet despite seeing her true self, he continues to be drawn to her again and again.

She wonders if this what love is.

Fortunately it is not a question that she has to worry about in any practical sense. Nate is an honest man, and he is married, and those two facts mean that she will never have to deal with any consequences of whatever is between them. She can enjoy the game of it, tugging on each others orbits, gliding past each other, but never having to deal with an actual collision. That is until his entire world blows up, and he disappears from hers entirely.

Without him to chase her, playing the marks loses some of its fun, and not long after he disappears, she decides to quit while she is still ahead and try life as an honest citizen. (An honest citizen with a healthy retirement plan.) That is until one night in Chicago, when she hears his voice and feels the familiar pull towards him.

“I thought you were excellent,” he says, and she can see in his eyes that he means it.

“My only fan.”

He looks at her with those piercing blue eyes that see everything about her, her whole checkered past, and once again he chooses to pull her back into his orbit.

“Are you in?” he asks.

(She knew it was love that kept pulling them back towards each other.)

She smiles. “I wouldn’t miss this.”


End file.
